


Stars in our wounds

by smaragdbird



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Battle of Yavin (Star Wars), M/M, Marriage Proposal, Proposal - Proposing After a Near-Death Experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: During the battle of Yavin, Galen stays at Bodhi's side.
Relationships: Galen Erso/Bodhi Rook
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Shotgun Wedding Flash Exchange





	Stars in our wounds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



When the Death Star appeared over Yavin, Galen walked out of the command centre. He had given them everything he could, now it was out of his hands. Part of him wanted to go outside, wanted to stand in the sun for as long as possible. Instead he turned his steps towards the infirmary. 

The Rebellion was short on pretty much everything, so instead of placing him in a tank, Bodhi had to make do with bacta bandages. Seeing him wrapped up like this hurt Galen because it was all because of him. He had built the Death Star. He had sent Bodhi to Jedha. He had told the Rebels to go to Scarif.

“Is it true?” Bodhi asked from his bed. His hair was up in a braid to keep it away from his wounds. Galen had done the first time he had visited him when he had noticed that the loose hair falling into his face had bothered Bodhi.

“Yes”, Galen replied, grabbing a chair to sit next to Bodhi’s bed. “They send out a signal to warn everyone out there not to return, but we cannot evacuate.”

“Guess they learned from Scarif”, Bodhi said more to himself than to Galen.

“I’m sorry”, Galen said, taking Bodhi’s hand between his. “I’m so sorry, Bodhi.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be safe in your shuttle somewhere in hyperspace. Jedha would still – “

“Stop.” Bodhi looked him in the eyes. “I made my choice. And it was the right one.”

“I wanted you to live”, the words threatened to choke Galen. More than anything he had wanted to save Bodhi, save him from the Empire, from a guilty consciousness, from harm. And he had failed spectacularly on all accounts.

Bodhi’s other hand came up and wrapped around Galens’. “There’s still a chance. We’re not dead yet.”

Galen leaned forward, resting his forehead against their clasped hands because it was all so unfair. Their freedom had lasted only days and now it was about to be ripped from them again. Once he would have thought that seeing the sun again, that finding Jyn again, was more than enough, but it wasn’t. Galen wanted to live, and he wanted those he loved to live as well.

He looked at Bodhi with tears in his eyes. “I love you.” He had to say it, now that he could without fear of repercussion. With maybe only seconds for them left to live.

“I love you, too.” Hope shone from Bodhi’s eyes like stars in the night sky. He wanted those eyes to be the last thing he ever saw.

And then cheering could be heard in the distance.

“Galen – “

Fast steps echoed down the hallway and someone burst into the infirmary. “They did it! They destroyed the Death Star!”

Like a droid whose hydraulic had been cut, Galen collapsed into himself. He couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be real, could it?

“Are you certain?” Bodhi asked, a waver in his voice.

“The wreckage is streaking across the sky like a meteor shower”, the rebel soldier told them.

Galen felt Bodhi’s hand tighten around his. “Go.”

He looked at Bodhi.

“I need you…”, Bodhi’s voice broke. “…I need you to tell me.”

Galen pressed a kiss to Bodhi’s hand before he got up. Walking wasn’t easy, not with the injuries he had sustained fleeing Eadu, and not with every Alliance member making their way outside as well.

The sky was on fire. 

Galen stared up at was had once had been his creation and seeing it destroyed beyond repair, a deep calm settled over him. He had done it. The worst weapon ever imagined, built by his hand, and destroyed through him. 

He exhaled slowly. Around him people were celebrating, laughing, crying, hugging. Galen turned his steps around. 

“Is it true?” Bodhi asked as soon as he had passed through the doors of the infirmary.

“Yes.”

Bodhi started laughing, laughed until the tears took over and he cried.

Galen held him through it all, letting Bodhi bury in his chest even as his own tears fell from his cheeks and glinted like crystals in Bodhi’s dark hair. Like a cancerous growth the Death Star had eaten twenty years of his life and everyone in it. 

Now it was destroyed. The knowledge felt freeing in a way even escaping from Eadu after fifteen years hadn’t been. 

“Galen?” Bodhi’s face was tear stained but his eyes were clear. “Let’s get married. We have a future now. I want my future to be with you.”

“Me, too”, Galen said. He cupped Bodhi’s face gently and kissed him.


End file.
